An egg a day reduces cardiovascular and stroke risk

Qin et al in a study publish by British Medical Journal examined survey data from individuals that were followed for nine years and found that compared to people who never ate eggs, individuals who ate an average of 0.76 eggs per day were at less risk to develop cardiovascular diseases (CVD) and less likely to die from ischemic heart disease (IHD), major coronary events, hemorrhagic and ischemic strokes.

Among 461 213 participants free of prior cancer, CVD and diabetes, a total of 83 977 CVD incident cases and 9985 CVD deaths were documented, as well as 5103 major coronary events (MCE).

 Among the participants 13.1% reported daily consumption (usual amount 0.76 egg/day) and 9.1% reported never or very rare consumption (usual amount 0.29 egg/day). Compared with non-consumers, daily egg consumption was associated with 11 percent lower risk of developing CVD disease and cut the risk of stroke by 26 percent while also decreasing the risk of dying from CVD conditions to 18 percent compared to non-consumers.  Daily consumers also had a 28% lower risk of hemorrhagic stroke death compared to non-consumers.

The researchers concluded that a moderate level of egg consumption (up to <1 egg/day) was significantly associated with lower risk of CVD and largely independent of other risk factors.

Dairy Consumption does not Increase Risk of Cardiovascular Attacks

Research published in the European Journal of Epidemiology suggests that consumption of dairy products does not increase the risk of cardiovascular events or death. 

The investigators analyzed results from 29 medical studies carried out over the last 35 years, using information based on almost 938,465 participants and 93,158 cases of mortality, 28,419 cases cardiovascular heart disease (CHD) and 25,416 cardiovascular disease (CVD) cases. No associations were found for total (high-fat/low-fat) dairy, and milk with the health outcomes of mortality, CHD or CVD. Inverse associations were found between totally fermented dairy such as sour milk products, cheese or yogurt; per 20 g/day with mortality and CVD risk. Further analyses of individual fermented dairy of cheese and yogurt showed cheese to have a 2% lower risk of CVD per 10 g/day, but not yogurt. 

In conclusion data from prospective cohort studies demonstrated that consumption of dairy products – even high-fat ones demonstrated neutral associations between dairy products and cardiovascular events as well as all-cause mortality.

Dog Ownership Decreases Risk of Dying from Cardiovascular Disease

Mubanga et al in a paper published in Scientific Reports suggest that having a dog could be linked to lower risk of dying from cardiovascular disease.

The investigators analyzed health records of 3.4 million people in Sweden. The data indicated that people who owned a dog were less likely to have cardiovascular disease or die from any cause during the 12 years covered by their research.

In single- and multiple-person households, dog ownership (13.1%) was associated with lower risk of deathwith the protective effect being more prominent for people living alone, who have been found to have a higher risk for early death than those who live with other people.  Ownership of hunting breed dogs was associated with lowest risk of CVD.

The protective effects may be due to dog owners are more physically active or due to increased well being and social contacts or effects of the dog on the bacterial microbiome of the owner.

In conclusion, dog ownership appears to be associated with lower risk of CVD in single-person households but also lower mortality in the population at large.

Coffee drinking provides more benefits than harm

An article published in The BMJ reviewed 201 meta-analyses of observational research and 17 meta-analyses of interventional research and found that coffee consumption was more often associated with benefits than harm.

The researchers found that drinking three cups of coffee a day was associated with the greatest benefit in terms of cardiovascular disease, coronary heart disease, and stroke, when compared with not drinking coffee. Consumption at this level was associated with a 19% lower risk of mortality from cardiovascular disease, a 16% lower risk of mortality from coronary heart disease, and a 30% lower risk of stroke mortality.

Increasing consumption to more than three cups a day was not associated with harm, but the beneficial effects were less pronounced. Women seemed to benefit more from greater coffee consumption than men in terms of reduced risk of coronary heart disease and cardiovascular disease mortality, but less so in stroke mortality.

Review of the studies showed that coffee drinkers had lower incidence of cancer. High consumption of coffee was associated with a lower risk of prostate cancer, endometrial cancer, melanoma, oral cancer, leukemia, non-melanoma skin cancer, and liver cancer.

Coffee consumption also seemed to have a beneficial effect on gastrointestinal system. Coffee drinkers had a 29% lower risk of non-alcoholic fatty liver, a 27% lower risk of liver fibrosis, and a 39% lower risk of liver cirrhosis.

The picture was mixed for consumption of coffee in pregnancy. High versus low consumption was associated with a higher risk of low birth weight and pregnancy loss.  No significant association, however, was found between any category of coffee consumption and third trimester preterm birth, neural tube defects, and congenital malformations of the oral cleft or cardiovascular system.

High versus low consumption of coffee was also associated with an increased risk of fracture in women but a decreased risk in men.

In conclusion moderate coffee consumption seems safe, and it can be incorporated as part of a healthy lifestyle by most of the adults.

Cancer Death Rate Has Declined in the US

In 2018, 1,735,350 new cancer cases and 609,640 cancer deaths are projected by the American Cancer Society (ACS) to occur in the United States.

Over the past decade (2005-2014), the cancer incidence rate was stable in women and declined by approximately 2% annually in men, while the cancer death rate (2006-2015) declined by about 1.5% annually in both men and women.

This decrease means that more than 2.3 million people have not died of cancer since 1991, which would otherwise have if the cancer rates had remained unchanged.

One of the biggest reasons behind this decline is the reduction in smoking.  Although lung cancer remains a leading cause of cancer death, death rates have dropped by 45% among men from 1990 to 2015 and by 19% among women from 2002 to 2015.

In the mid-1990s, the American Cancer Society Board of Directors made as a goal to cut the U.S. cancer mortality rate in half by the year 2015.  Though the goal of a 50% reduction has not been achieved the cancer death rate has been reduced and hopefully this trend will continue.

Unhealthy lifestyle linked to nearly half of US cancer deaths

A study by Islami et al was published in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians suggests nearly half of cancer deaths in the US are caused by smoking, poor diet and other unhealthy habits.

The investigators analyzed data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Cancer Institute.  They calculated how many of cancer cases and deaths can be attributed to factors that people can change.  They found that among more than 1.5 million cancers in 2014, 42% of the cancers (659,640 of 1,570,975) and 45% of deaths (265,150 of 587,521) in 2014 were traced to modifiable habits mentioned above.

Specifically smoking was associated with more cancer cases and deaths than any other single risk factor, accounting for nearly 20 percent of all cancer cases and 30 percent of all cancer deaths, followed by excess body weight which caused 7.8% of cases and 6.5%, of deaths. The data also indicated that excessive alcohol drinking causes 5.6 of cancer cases and 4 percent of deaths.  Lung cancer had the highest number of cancers (184,970 cases and 132,960 deaths), followed by colorectal cancer (76,910 cases and 28,290 deaths).

The authors suggest a vast potential for reducing cancer morbidity and mortality through lifestyle changes such as decreases in smoking; secondhand smoke; excess body weight; alcohol intake; consumption of red and processed meat an increased consumption of fruits/vegetables, dietary fiber; physical activity and decrease exposure to ultraviolet radiation; and cancer-associated infections.